Marketers struggle with how to leverage mobile data: report

Only 23 percent of marketers are currently accessing location-based data in mobile campaigns, according to a new report from Neolane and the Direct Marketing Association.

The survey underscores the challenges that marketers are having handling big data and suggests opportunities still exist to leverage mobile data. So far, marketers are doing a better job of leveraging social media data, with 62 percent leveraging social media profile data such as likes and interests while 62 percent leverage social media transactions such as wall posts and shares.

Marketers today would love to have a mobile strategy and are experimenting on mobile but are not quite sure how they can use the data and leverage the data to execute a marketing strategy, said Mathieu Hannouz, senior product and marketing management at Neolane, Newton, MA.

The results show that 50 percent of marketers dont have or are unsure if their company has a big data strategy, he said. When it comes to location-based information, there are only 23 percent of companies that are leveraging mobile data versus 13 percent for mobile loyalty information.

Collecting and using this data is important when it comes to understanding the bigger picture.

Investing in new technologyThe survey tries to assess how marketing associations are handling the deluge of consumer data as a result of emerging channels such as mobile and social.

Marketers know they need to leverage data to drive conversion rates and gain a better understanding of consumers. However, the report reveals that 60 percent of respondents said they do not currently have or unsure if they have a specific strategy for handling the challenges of big data.

Additionally, 81 percent feel they are either somewhat or not very prepared when it comes to the new rules and regulations for marketing data governance.

However, more than half of respondents are trying to address big data by augmenting their marketing teams and investing in new technology to handle the influx of customer data. Overall, 50 percent of marketing departments are considering hiring data scientists to handle the influx of customer data.

The customer viewSome verticals are doing a better of recognizing the need to leverage big data than others.

For example, the retail sector - which is facing slow sales volume  is looking for new tactics to increase online sales and enhance the offline experience.

Starbucks is an example of a marketer that is already doing a good job of leveraging mobile data through its mobile loyalty app which enables users to pay for purchases, receive loyalty points and check-in directly at the point of sale.

Retailers are using solutions and vendors to send campaigns directly on mobile devices while making sure they can collect information directly from the campaigns to fill in the customer view, Mr. Hannouz said.

This is the biggest challenge they have today, he said.

Final TakeChantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York